


Belle's Secret

by dancinluv



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-16
Updated: 2014-10-16
Packaged: 2018-02-21 10:45:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2465411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dancinluv/pseuds/dancinluv
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Belle shares a secret with Archie Hopper that she's been keeping from her husband, Rumplestiltskin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Belle's Secret

Belle proceeds down the hall to Dr. Hoppers office. It was one of the most difficult nights of sleep she's had. That morning she woke up with beads of sweat dripping from her forehead, her night gown drenched from perspiration, her breathing coming and going in big intakes of breath. It hurt her to think about what she had dreamed last night.  She called the one person who would help her understand why the visual of her disturbing dream came into play. He would understand, yes she thought. Judgement would not be an issue from Dr. hopper. She hoped to get an appointment in as soon as possible, this matter of the subject couldn't wait. Luckily, the one client Dr. Hopper had canceled that morning, which worked out on belles end.

She hesitates at the door before knocking. Tentatively she gives two light knocks. "Come in", Dr. Hopper calls out from inside his office. Belle cautiously opens the door and walks in.

"Hello Dr. Hopper. I want to thank you again for seeing me today."

 

"Oh it was not a problem belle... oh and please call me Archie." he gestures for her to have a seat on the couch across from his chair.

Belle sits down making herself comfortable, "I had to make sure Rumple doesn't know I'm here. He can't ever know I came to you about this."

"I understand, our session will be completely confidential. Now, lets start with why you did come to me." he grabs  his notepad to write down anything that will be of importance to follow up on. " You didn't tell me on the phone what this was all about, but you sounded flustered. I assume this is about your husband?" giving her a confused look.

"Part of it, I had a dream last night that left me... uneasy." she shifts a little in her position at the thought of what occurred in her dream.

"Why don't we talk about your dream and see what we can interpret from it." He leans back in his chair crossing his legs.

" I don't even know where to begin"

" Just tell me what you remember"

Belle takes a second to think about the bits and pieces of how her dream started. " I remember.... I remember being on Hook's ship in his quarters. He told me he had something important to discuss with me about Rumpelstiltskin, he said it was urgent, something about him being in danger. He needed to share this information so I could go back and tell Rumple myself to prevent him from getting hurt by someone", she takes a moment to think to herself. She starts twiddling her thumbs, creases her eyebrows trying to remember the details of what Hook said to her. "Hook had told me he overheard this person say they were going to kill him at midnight sharp, that they were going to- to wait til he goes to sleep, and take back what is theirs."

"And you don't know remember who Hook had overheard?"

"No, sorry, I'm afraid I don't"

"Did Hook tell you why this person would want to kill Rumplestiltskin?"

Belle looks down to think for a minute "Hmm, can't say that he did."

 

* * *

That same morning, Rumple wakes up to a muffled noise. He gets up out of bed, puts on his slippers and walks over to where the noise is coming from. As he gets closer he notices the noise sounds more like a soft voice and its coming from downstairs. He walks quietly down each step. He hears the voice coming from the other side of the door in the den. He pushes the door open slightly to see Belle speaking on the phone with someone. The last thing he wanted to do was make his presence evident, so he kept the door slightly ajar. Of course he wondered, who in the hell could she be talking to at seven am in the morning. As soon as she mentioned Dr. Hopper's name he was stumped. Why would she need to see Dr. Hopper at this time?, he was definitely curious. Right when Belle had ended her phone conversation with the doctor, Rumple quickly vanished out of sight , reappearing back into the bedroom. He heard Belle make her way up the stairs, he rushes right into bed under the covers pretending to be asleep. Belle quickly changed clothes to head over to Dr. Hoppers office. Rumple of course wanted to know what was going on. He feared that maybe Belle somehow had found out about the fake dagger, that Hook might had told her, about what his intentions were with keeping the real dagger on him. It was eating at him, he needed to know. Following her is what he intended on doing. He waited until he heard her leave and quickly got out of bed, magicking his blue suit on, making his way downstairs. As he was about to leave he saw a note on the door from belle letting him know she took the car and would be back in about an hour or so. Didn't say where she was going, he noticed. Hmm he sees that she made a point to keep her destination a secret. The only other way for him to make his way over to Dr. Hoppers office was to magic himself there which is exactly what he did.

When he had appeared in the building, there was no sign of Belle yet, figuring she must still be on her way. He sat in the lobby waiting, nervously twitching his fingers in his lap, waiting and waiting. After fifteen minutes of waiting he sees the car pull up and park. Rumple quickly gets up and hides around the corner. Belle enters the building making her way down the hall to Dr. Hoppers office. Rumple heard a door close. He walks down the hall and puts his ear against the door to listen in.

* * *

"Go ahead Belle, please continue." Archie adjusts his position from uncrossing one leg to the other.

"Well, as I said Hook was telling me that this person intended on killing Rumple and I was to deliver this information myself. I remember being skeptical in the dream. I couldn't take Hook for his word. Then I remember him grabbing me by my arms, and shaking me... yelling for me to believe what he says... and I kept shaking my head no. He threw me on his bed, then.. then... he um..." Belle closed her eyes for a moment.

"It's okay Belle, you don't have to go any further."

She opens her eyes with a look of courage, "No, no I want to continue. It-it might help."

"Okay, take your time."

She pauses for about fifteen seconds before continuing, "He climbed on top of me, but there was nothing viscous in his eyes when he was staring at me. If anything he looked worried and... and I wasn't afraid. I was okay with it. He whispered he was sorry and leaned down to kiss me."

"What do you think he was sorry for?"

"I think he was sorry that he was taking advantage of the situation."

"Ah I see, go on, continue."

"So um... he leans over to kiss me and what's disturbing about that is not that he's kissing me but the fact that I'm not fighting him. I was allowing it and not only was I allowing it, I was enjoying it." her eyes start swelling up, feeling ashamed inside for her confession.

"Wow, interesting. Let me ask, does some part of you find Hook pleasing to the eye?"

"No! never." she gives a disgusted, appalled look from the question. "Not after what he's done. He is a horrible man, it doesn't matter how attractive he is on the outside, it's what's on the inside that counts."

"You do realize, you said he is attractive even though you stated it in different context.

"Oh, I did, didn't I. What do you suppose that means?"

Archie shrugs, "Nothing really, its natural to find an attraction, to any man. He doesn't have to be a love interest either. Doesn't necessarily mean your a bad person to do so. So back to what you were saying... you didn't stop the kiss. Now, did you kiss him back?"

"Yes," she says silently "yes I did, I remember the kiss was very intense." she gazes off in the distance, touching her lips as she continues, "it was a type of kiss I have never experienced before, not even with Rumple. How could I dream something that horrible. I feel so ashamed." Belle tries hard to fight back her tears.

 

Archie reaches over to the end table and grabs a tissue from the tissue box to give to Belle, "You're not a horrible person Belle. You have nothing to be ashamed of. Just because you kissed Hook in your dream doesn't necessarily mean you're in love with him."

"Yes I understand, but it left me feeling terrible inside." she folds her arms into her chest with her back hunched over, shivering at the thought.

"I can understand, you felt like you had betrayed your husband." "Yes I did."

"But you didn't Belle. A lot of couples every now and then dream of intimacy with another person, but it doesn't necessarily mean anything bad. It could mean something else."

"Like what?"

"Maybe you are in need of change, or maybe you might be feeling guilty about something. The part where Hook tells you there is a person after him. Was there something that had happened between you two recently that angered you, even the smallest thing that you can think of that made you feel a little upset?"

"No, no.. not at all. He's been really trying hard to improve himself. He's shown me that."

"Hmm, ok... well have you ever done anything that you have felt bad about?"

 Belle doesn't answer for awhile, she looks down at her hands now resting on her lap " Well yes there are plenty of things, back when I was a little girl, I hid in the maze in my kingdom purposely so my Nana couldn't find me. I had peeked in the door way and  saw her preparing the tub water. I hated taking baths when I was young. I ran away and hid into the maze, I hid for so long that I had her worried sick. She cried after searching for me for about an hour. I could hear her calling out for my father, crying to him that she lost me. She feared my father would fire her for losing his only daughter. When my father finally came out running wondering what the fuss was all about, she fled into his arms crying up a storm hysterically, pleading for his forgiveness for losing me. After hearing the commotion, I came out from hiding so they could see that I was fine, I just didn't want to take my bath. I felt awful for doing that to my Nana. "

"How old were you?"

"I think I was about seven years of age."

"Hmm, what about recently? Have you done anything that left you feeling guilty?"

 

* * *

 

Rumple is on the other side of the door, listening to everything Belle has to say about her dream. He clinches his fists after hearing Belles confession enjoying her kiss with Hook. He couldn't help but feel rage and jealousy at the same time even though it's just a dream but imagining her lips joined with Hooks in ecstasy burned a hole through his heart. He couldn't believe what he was hearing but still trying to keep in mind it was just a dream. Dreams were not something he would have to expect to change, and that was something he planned on doing. Already he was thinking of a potion to give Belle only the sweetest dreams that didn't involve Hook. Part of him wanted to disappear and reappear right behind Hook, tap him on the shoulder and knock the wind out of him. He laughed a little at the thought. In the end, he shook the thought away, feeling it wouldn't serve any purpose, besides he was more interested in hearing what insight Dr. Hopper had to say about the dream. When he overheard Dr. Hopper ask Belle if there was anything recently that she might be feeling guilty about, Rumple anxiously awaiting her response.

* * *

  
Belle looks nervously at Archie then shifts her eyes down to her hands, twiddling her fingers around, she is so afraid to answer, to admit to an act that she did do, that left her with feeling more guilt than ever, " Yes... yes there's something I've done that left me feeling guilty inside my heart. It's been eating at me off and on ever since it's happened. I try to act as if it didn't, ignoring it, hoping the guilt would leave, fade away but... it hasn't." She keeps her eyes down, not able to look Dr. Hopper in his face.

 "What has you feeling so guilty Belle?" he asks in a soft tone.

 She swallows hard before speaking, "I... I kissed someone else."

 "Oh.. okay." taken aback by her answer, he takes a second before asking another question "Was this back in the enchanted forest or was this more recent?"

 "Back in the enchanted forest, after... after we were all taken back there after the second curse, when story brook was no more."

"Yes I remember that." gazing down to his notepad thinking back when he the others were brought back, adjusting back to the old world again. "Was this person someone you already knew?"

"Yes."

"Was it Hook?"

"No."

"Mind if I ask who?" he asks hesitantly

"Baelfire." she says in low voice. A tear slowly trickles down her cheek.

"Baelfire?' he repeats in disbelief. He looks away for a minute "Wow... very interesting." he takes his glasses off to rub his eyes and then puts them back on to proceed to bring his attention back to Belle. "and how did this come about?"

"I remember we were in the woods looking for wood and food for our camp" her voice gets shaky, holding back more tears as she continues, keeping her eyes focused on the wall, as she continues "It was a cold night, the fire was burning low at our camp, people were hungry, complaining of not much around to eat. Baelfire had volunteered to go look for more wood and food as well as I went along to help."

 

_**Belle leaves the circle of people to catch up with Neal as he walks away. She cries out "Baelfire! wait I'm coming with you." He turns around to see belle running up to him. She says out of breath, "I want to help"** _

_**"I don't think that 's such a good idea. It's dangerous out there you know."** _

_**"I know but I can take care of myself. Please.... let me help."** _

_**Neal thinks about it for a second, "Alright, come on."** _

_**They continued off deeper into the woods. The further they ventured the darker it became. Neal held out a torch, he patted his side pant pockets to see if he had anything to ignite the fire, unfortunately he didn't, but luckily for him Belle did. She quickly notices his dilemma and pulls out a lighter from her coat pocket, handing it over to him.** _

_**"Where did you get that?"** _

_**"Your father taught me to always be prepared, because you never know what predicament you'll end up in."** _

_**"Yeah, sounds like my father." he smirks at Belle.** _

  _ **He takes the lighter from Belles hand, lights the soiled cloth on the wooden stick. A flame begins to dance around the torch, creating enough light to lead them the way through the darkness.** _

_**"There we go", admiring the beautiful bright flare of the fire. "Shall we?" he gestures for Belle to continue ahead of him further into the woods.** _

  _ **They come to an opening out of the forest, to an open ground layered with light snow coverage.** _

  _ **"I think we should stop and camp here for the night" he looks around, "we should be fine."** _

  _ **Belle collapses down on the ground, sits on the side of her hip, and takes a moment to look back at Neal. "These boots are killing my feet" she starts to unlace her boots to loosen the pressure.** _

  _ **"Wait... don't take them off just yet. I have a remedy for sore feet. First I'm going to look for more wood, we definitely need a fire going."** _

  _ **"Ok, I'll be right here." she mumbles to herself "Don't worry I won't be going anywhere,"** _

  _ **Neal struts off too look for more wood while Belle sits back and relaxes, looking around her surroundings, keeping on guard at all times,  unsure if something will jump out at any moment. Twenty minutes goes by, Neal finally returns with a bunch of wood in his one arm while the other still carries the torch. He throws them down on the ground.** _

  _ **He puts the wood in a neat pile, then places the lit torch over the wood to start up a fire. The fire begins to grow larger. "There we go, that should be enough wood to last us through out the night"** **he takes a look at Belle who looks uncomfortable from the pain pulsing through her feet, "Ready for that remedy?"** _

**_"Remedy for what_ _? "  
_ **

**_He gestures to her feet, "Oh right, sure, anything to get rid of this pain."_ **

**_He sits down besides Belle, grabs her legs, swinging them around on his lap. Belle lets out a gasp, not expecting him to grab her in one quick motion. He starts unlacing her boots._ **

**_"Baelfire, please, you really don't have to ..."_ **

**_Cuts her off, "...ssshhh, nonsense. I don't mind. The best remedy for your pain is my magical foot rub._ **

**_Belle chuckles, "Magical huh."_ **

**_"Yes, you'll see. Just sit back and relax." He takes off her boots and throws them to the side. Belle leans back on her hands, her head tilted, resting on her left shoulder, smirking from Neals comment. She tries to pull her foot away from his hand but he kept his grip on her ankle._ **

**_"Really Baelfire, you don't have to do this."_ **

**_"Please allow me to help and trust me, this will help."_ **

**_"Alright, but only for a minute."_ **

**_"You got it." giving her a charming smile._ **

  ** _As he starts rubbing her feet, he kept glancing over at Belle, looking for a reaction on her that shows any sign of more pain and discomfort. So far so good, she looked content. The more he rubbed her feet the more he felt her foot relax in his hands, not feeling as tense as she did when he first started. She closes her eyes, enjoying the pleasure of his hands, easing her muscles. After awhile it was getting to a point to where it was sending chills through her body, not in an appropriate way. She opens her eyes, watches the intense expression on his face as he concentrates his movements around her feet. Gliding his hands up and down her arch slowly, circling both thumbs on the ball of her foot, with just enough pressure for it not to hurt. She wanted to end it but at the same time she didn't, ending it would be the right thing to do.  
_ **

**_She leans over to grab his wrist gently stopping him, "I think the pain is gone now. You don't have to do anymore. Thank you for that."_ **

**_He looked a little disappointed but quickly smiles. After he releases her feet ,she lifts her legs off of him and tucks them underneath her in a sitting position._ **

**__**_He rubs his hands together blowing into them. She catches him doing so, **her kind expression turns into a concerned one when she sees him hunched over his knees, his arms are folded across his chest, his hands buried underneath his pits, his teeth chattering. "Your shivering, you are certainly not going to warm up that way. Here come closer." Neal scoots closer to her, Belle puts her arms around him and starts rubbing his back. "If we hold each other close, our bodies should give off enough heat. The best way to warm up."**_  
** _ _ **

  ** _" _ ** _ **Thanks"  
** _ ** _ _ **

  _ **Belle watches the flames dance around, thinking about Rumple,"Your father was a wise man you know" trying to break the silence with being in the awkward position they had to be in under the circumstances.** _

_**"Oh don't I know it. He taught me a lot of things. There's was one thing he taught me that I will never forget.... is to never give up and never surrender to anyone... and I truly believe in that, and so did my father." he finishes softly.** _

_**"He was also brave enough to sacrifice his life to save us, to save you." she looks at him as she says the last part. "You may have thought you're father had abandoned you for his power but he didn't. The one thing your father never gave up on,,, was looking for you. He was true to that"** _

  _ **"Yeah he proved that to me"** _

  _ **Belle holds him tighter, "You were his heart and he was a good man even though he couldn't see it."** _

_**He turns to look at Belle. "I can see why my father loved you. You're smart, you're caring, you're brave to tag along with me all the way out here, not knowing what dangers lies in these forest. You're giving and forgiving. Hell, you forgave my father."** _

_**"Because I believed in your father even though he didn't."** _

_**"You're a strong person Belle, and..." he stops in mid sentence gazing at her eyes. He notices how alluring they can be, and even a little bit of a twinkle they give off when the firelight hits them just right "You're also very... beautiful Belle. Yeah... yeah I can see why my father fell in love with you."** _

_**Belle smiles at him bashfully, "You're sweet to say so."** _

_**Neal notices Belle is shivering a little in his arms, "Hey.. hey you still cold ?," He starts rubbing her back rapidly to get the blood warm.** _

_**Her bottom lip is quivering, she rests her head on his right shoulder, Neal continues to rub her back hoping between that and the fire it will help keep her warm. He looks down at her and instinctively kisses her forehead. She looks up at him and smiles.** _

_**"How's that? Much better?"** _

_**"Yes thank you" she says softly, swayed by his comfort, affected by his kiss, not sure what to make out of it. Did he mean to kiss her on her forehead ? or was a just in the moment type of thing ?, she wondered.** _

_**"Your welcome" he responds back softly, still keeping his gaze on her.** _

_**He leans down to kiss her on her forehead again, but this time he let the kiss linger a little longer before he parted away. Belle closes her eyes when he kisses her, taking in his touch, enjoying his comfort. Imagining it's Rumples touch she is feeling. Neal slowly lifts his hand, caresses the side of Belles cheekbone all the way down to her jawline. He leans in closer to her lips, Belle knows what's coming, she knew what was about to happen. Why is she not stopping this, she kept asking herself, is it because it's Rumples son and he is the closest thing she has to anything she can remember from Rumple. No, no she cannot allow this, she kept thinking that to herself but was doing nothing to prevent it. His lips slightly touch hers, kissing her gently. He himself doesn't understand why he is doing what he is doing, but just wants to feel comfort with someone, even if its his fathers lover. She kisses him back just as kindly. The kiss gradually grows more intense. He glides his hand around the back her head, belle slides her arm around his neck.  Belles lets out a soft moan as he slides his tongue into her mouth. Neal lifts Belle up to straddle over top of him, he's sitting up, holding her by her waist, rubbing his hands up and down the side of her ribcage underneath her shirt. They continue to kiss each other passionately,  enrapturing each others lips.** _

_**Belle breaks away for a second, panting hard, barely able to speak "Baelfire, we shouldn't.... we shouldn't do this."** _

_**He responds by grabbing her head pulling her face towards his and kissing her harder, a breathy moan escapes her mouth, he drags his lips over to her jawline and then down to her neck, nibbling and biting, sucking on her skin. She grabs the back of his head pulling him in closer the more he was sucking. She wanted to stop this but it was hard for her to have the will power she needed.** _

_**"Baelfire, pleease... oh please don't stop" what she meant to say was please stop but it failed her lips.** _

  _ **He let out a small groan as he kept sucking and kissing her neck. She could feel him getting hard which turned her on more. She starts grinding a little against his bulge which felt so good against her center. More moans come out of Belles mouth not able to hold them back. He he lowers his hands to her ass and squeezes it hard, grinding against her harder. His left hand slides around to her front around her inner thigh to center. He could feel how soaked she was through her pants which made him even more erect. He starts rubbing her in between her legs, Belle gives a louder moan grinding against his hand. His other hand is holding her head in place so he can look at her reactions in pure ecstasy.** _

_**"kiss me" he whispers.** _

_**She leans over to kiss him, holding him by his shoulders, grinding his hand. He groans again as she sucks on his bottom lip. How far was she willing to allow this, it all felt too good to stop now, but she knew it must end. Will power she must dig deep to find to put a stop to this. Again she tries. Breaks away from the kiss, "Baelfire.. we must... we must stop."** _

_**He looks at her in a daze, his eyes slit open "yeah.. your wright" he says in sedated tone, pulling her in close again to kiss her. She kisses him back , letting it go for a little while then tries again to get through to him.** _

_**She pulls away again,still panting, looking at him, pleading with her eyes "No, no Baelfire. We can't do this. We mustn't. This isn't right." giving him a sorrowful expression.** _

_**He shakes his head a little trying to snap out of it, looking away, taking a second to think about what he is doing, "Yeah, you're right, I'm sorry" he wasn't able to look at her. He lifts her off of his lap and shifts into a sitting position.** _

_**Belle sits with her knees up into her chest, "I'm sorry too. We both got carried away."** _

_**"Yeah... we did"** _

_**"Maybe we should get some rest** _ **."**

_**"Yeah. I think.. I think it be best if I stay up for awhile and keep watch, just in case."** _

_**"Are you sure?"** _

_**"Yeah, it'll be fine."** _

_**"Will you be warm enough?" she says as she tries to get herself comfortable on a thin layer of a wool blanket she brought along with her.** _

_**"I should be, we got a good fire going here." he blows into his hands, rubbing them together.** _

_**"Well you know if you need more warmth we could hold each other again, it seemed to help."** _

_**He looks to Belle, " I don't think that's such a good idea."** _

_**She laughs a little, "Of course, right."** _

_**They didn't have to say more than that, after knowing the result of trying to master body heat. Belle lies down on the blanket as Neal just sits by the fire, looking around the woods, keeping guard.** _

_**She lies on her side facing the fire, her head resting on her arm, she looks up at him, "Good night Baelfire"** _

_**He looks back over to her and says softly "Good night Belle" she gives him a endearing smile, he smiles back at her in return.** _

__

* * *

Rumple stood there in shock, he couldn't believe what he'd just overheard. His eyes wide, his mouth partially dropped open. He says to himself "Belle?". It was the last person he'd ever expect Belle to kiss behind his back. Bae and Belle? he kept repeating in his head, trying to make sense out of it, trying to understand why they did what they did and almost did with each other.  He wasn't sure how he was feeling at the moment, the shock hit him so hard, causing him to feel numb inside. Hurt yes, anger yes, yes those are the main two things he should be feeling but how could he be angry at his son, his son was everything to him. Even though his son is gone now, he couldn't feel anger for what he did and he tried not to be angry at Belle. Part of him understood why she chose to not share this information, figuring she wouldn't want to hurt and knowing he wouldn't react well to this, only part of him understood, the rest of him was ready to charge through that door and confront her right then and there but he knew it'd be wrong. All the trust she has for him would be lost knowing he invaded on her private session with Dr. Hopper. He decided to find a way to get her to confess out of guilt. That's the one thing he knew about Belle, she hated feeling guilty about something she knew she did wrong, she would spill the beans in a short amount of time, giving an abundance of apologies. He heard enough, his plan was to go back to the house and wait for her there. Before he heard Belle finish speaking he decided to leave. A cloud of purple smoke takes him away.

* * *

"You are the only person I've told this. I still feel awful about what had happened and what almost happened. I don't excuse it." she looks at the doctor with guilt.

"Sounds like you were both needing comfort at a difficult time... he lost his father, you lost the man you love and his son was the closest thing for you to Rumplestiltskin.'

"Yes but still, It was shameful what I did with Baelfire" She tries not to cry thinking about how she is feeling inside but a tear does escape as it slowly falls down her cheek.

"Belle I am not here to judge you. You are not a bad person. Don't beat yourself up so badly about this. All you can do now is talk to him. I think that would be the best way to rid yourself from carrying all this guilt inside you. I think this is why your dream was so disturbing for you. You have buried all that guilt inside for so long to a point it speaks to you through your subconscious into your dreams. I feel if you do talk it out with your husband, you'll free yourself from all that weight you're holding."

More tears come flowing out, she takes her tissue and wipes them away, sniffling, "I guess your right. Oh I just don't want to hurt him."

"I understand but this is something that needs to be discussed, for you're benefit. Yes he'll be hurt but he'll respect you more for coming to him openly about it."

"I don't think he'll respect that I waited so long to tell him. How soon do you think I should tell him?"

Archie places his notepad on the end table before speaking, "Today would be a good start if you both don't have a busy schedule."

"I would have to see what his schedule is like today, I know lately he's been really busy in the shop and has been working overtime with reorganizing and I guess with the holidays coming he's had a lot more business."

"Of course, makes sense... people around here start their Christmas shopping early." He says as he is getting up, "Speaking of which, I know I need to get started on mine. I ended up doing last minute shopping last year and the result of that was buying a bunch of unwanted fruit cake to give out to folks. Little did I know then how much people despise fruit cake.... you live and learn right?" he belts out a forced laugh. Belle laughed a little under her sadness."Well enough of my rambling, I should let you get home. Oh, was there anything else you needed to discuss with me? Anything else bothering you?"

"No, nothing else. Thank you again for seeing me Dr. Hopper." she holds her hand out to shake his.

He shakes hers back "Anytime Belle and no more Dr. Hopper business, Just call me Archie. We don't have to be so formal." He gives a huge friendly smile.

"Sure", she covers her mouth as she laughs, "how silly of me, it should be that way, you are the one who married Rumple and I after all. I'm sorry, Archie, where are my manners."

"Oh your fine,,,, Just don't let it happen again" he says jokingly, and chuckles making Belle laugh more. "Do you feel a little bit better after sharing what was bothering you?"

She looks down and thinks about it for a moment then looks up to him, "Yes, yes I do.'

"Good." He begins to escort her to the door. "Belle please don't ever hesitate to come see me again if there is anything else at all you need to discuss. My office is always open."

"Thank you Archie, I will. Hopefully it won't come to that but I'll keep that in mind." she turns to leave,

"Oh give me a call later and let me know how things went with your discussion with your husband."

"I will," she heads out of his office down the hall.

 

Archie waves good bye to Belle as she is leaving. Belle hurries to the car, her intentions were to head back to the house but then she decided to head over to Rumples shop. He would most likely be there, remembering he gets an early start unless he wants to sleep in for a specific reason which was not often. She was on the fence about it though, at the same time, she wouldn't want to bother him if he's really busy handling and fiddling around with his trinkets. She's seen that side of him when he gets interrupted while he's deeply engaged in his work, knowing from experience back when she was living with him in his castle. Maybe she should go back to the house, cook a nice dinner, but wait she wouldn't know what time he would arrive home, then the dinner would get cold,,,she shook her head at the thought and then rethought it out. Give him a call, find out what time he'll be home, if it's at a reasonable time, then cook a nice dinner, get him nice and relaxed, maybe a nice back massage, then afterwards have "the" talk with him,,,,no no no she thought, it seemed all wrong, too much of a show, he would definitely know something is wrong or would he? She often did cook him nice dinners in general, so he might not suspect something is hidden underneath all that special treatment. The shop, she kept thinking back to going to the shop. Yes! the shop, she could stop by just to find out how the rest of his day looks and what time he'll be home for dinner, or maybe he could take a lunch break, yes! she could fix him a nice lunch and that's when they could have "the" talk.  The sooner the better the Doctor had suggested and that's what she'll do. That's the plan, go by the shop, or go by the house first and fix a nice lunch, or go to Granny's and order a nice lunch for him and then go by the shop to see if he'll take a lunch break. It all sounded good up until she thought he might not want to take a lunch break, what then? So she had to think of a plan B, she kept thinking and thinking as she was driving, still not sure where she was headed. Her eyes lit up as soon as she thought of another plan. Got it! she thought to go to the shop, ask him what his schedule is like for the rest of the day, if he isn't busy, ask him if he'd like to grab lunch at granny's but wait, Granny's would not be a great setting to have this conversation. She had to rethink it again. She twisted up her face a little trying to think. Finally after thinking for thirty seconds she came up with another plan, call him and ask about his schedule for the rest of the day over the phone, if he has time to take a lunch break, have him head back to the house and have lunch with her that way she could fix him lunch there and have the discussion but then one thought wiped out most of the others which made her go back to her first idea. She thought if she did tell him on his lunch break it would put him in terrible mood, and him going back to work angry wouldn't be the best idea, worrying he would take his anger out on his customers, which leads to her heading back to the house, giving him a call there to see what time he would be home for dinner and telling him then. That was that, her final conclusion of multiple, scattered, dottiness of ideas.

 

Belle pulls up at the house, gets out of the car and makes her way inside. After she closes the door behind her, she looks up and jumps in place being startled by her husband who is sitting in a chair facing the coffee table with the chipped cup placed in the middle. She notices he's doesn't detect her presence, and if he does he is not making it known, he just stares at the cup with an agonized expression on his face. She slowly steps towards where he is sitting walking around the table to face him. She could tell he was bothered by something, already afraid she knew what it was.

"Rumple?" she says him name cautiously, "Rumple is everything alright? I thought you'd be at the shop."

"I closed the shop today" he says still staring at the cup, "So I could spend time with my sweet, lovely, ethical wife." he finishes in a sardonic tone.

Uh oh, he knew, well there goes her dinner plans. 

"Where were you this morning?" his eyes still focused on the chipped cup.

"I um-I ah, I was out."

He laughs a little , finally looking up at her, "I gathered that much, seeing how I woke up to you missing in bed, along with my car."

Belle was fumbling her words, having a hard time not letting her nerves get to her, "I-I had an-an appointment."

"What kind of appointment?"

"A doctors appointment" she swallows hard.

"Really, is that so" he says in leery tone. She shakes her head yes quickly.

"Have a seat." holding his hand out gesturing to the chair on the other side of the coffee table.

Belle takes a seat, folding her hands in her lap, anxiously waiting for his next move. It was obvious he knew, the snide tone he keeps using, his body language isn't warm and loving, its a more business stance, as if she is another person he is collecting his rent from or another customer he is making his deal with. The one question she was wondering was how _did_ he know?

"Which doctor are you referring to?" He leans back in his chair, folding his hands together.

"Um...um doctor... doctor Hopper" she wanted to lie but knew that would be the wrong thing to do. It was bad enough she kept her incident with his son from him in the dark this long.

He looked confused for a second, acting as if he didn't know, "Why did you need to see Dr. Hopper?"

"I had a bad dream last night, so I needed to talk him about it."

"I see. Must of been one horrible nightmare for you to go all the way to Dr. Hopper's office when you could have easily talked about it with me" he looks away for a moment before bringing his focus back to her and continuing, "Did he help?"

"Yes he did" she began to feel her nerves go away and anger start building up inside, upset at the fact he was not letting up on the subject even though he already knew. He was playing her, and that did not sit well with Belle at all. She had enough of his game. She begins to speak in a grim voice, "How did you know?"

"How did I know what sweetheart?" shrugging his shoulders, looking puzzled, continuing to play dumb.

"You know what I am talking about. You were there, weren't you. How much of it did you hear?" she asks coyly.

He takes his hand and brushes the sleeve of his shirt and then looks to Belle discontentedly, "ohhh enough to know you almost Fucked! my son" emphasizing the word 'Fucked'. He raises up out of his chair slowly, putting his hand on his chest near his heart, "My boy Belle? Bae? Why? "

Her eyes fall down to her lap, "I-I-I am not sure, after you had died and we were all sent back to the enchanted forest, I felt so alone Rumple... Baelfire was the closest thing I had to you. I wanted to believe it was you I was touching, feeling." she looks up at him, "I was going to tell you." He picks the cup up off of the table.

He turns around, not able to look into her eyes anymore, twirling the cup around in his hand, "You know, I can forgive my son. I have no choice right now but to forgive him. He's gone, out of my life for good. I can't just easily ask him why he did it but I can ask you. Why do you think he did it Belle, why did he kiss you?"

"Wait a minute!" her anger comes rising back, remembering what had her so angry in the first place. "You invaded my privacy Rumplestiltskin! I am not going to answer anymore questions until you answer mine,... why did you listen in on my session with Dr. Hopper?" she asks sternly.

"I was concerned."

"Concerned. about. what?" glaring at his back.

He turns around to face her, "About you."

"I don't believe you. Usually it's about you as well" he had nothing to say to that. "What were you so concerned about?" looking at him skeptically.

He lowers his head, "Belle I- I have kept something from you as well" lifting his head back up, giving her full eye contact, "I honestly have no room to be angry with you. I get why you had that moment with my son,I can forgive you for that but what I have to tell you... I truly don't think you will understand or forgive" he turns his head away.

Belles anger shifted instantly into concern, "What is it? What is it that you have to tell me? What ever it is, _you_ can tell me."

He's sighs deeply, standing there in silence,"Rumple please talk to me."

"I lied to you Belle."

"Lied to me ? " her body jerks back from his response, shaking her head a little in disbelief, "About what?"

He puts the cup back down on the coffee table, "take the dagger out of your purse."

"What? Why?"

"Please Belle," closing his eyes "take it out" he says in a whisper.

She opens her purse and takes out the dagger, "okay, I took it out."

He opens his eyes slowly, "Use it on me."

"Rumple, no I can't. You said you lied to me, now what did you lie to me about. Using this dagger to avoid the question is not going to...."

He cuts her off, "...That dagger has everything to do with it", he says in a more gruff tone. She looks at the dagger, "What you are holding in your hand is a lie."

"I-I don't understand."

He says more softly, pleading "Just use it on me Belle, and you'll see."

"I-I can't. Just tell me what's going on."

He lets out a big sigh, feeling defeated to make his point. "Fine.... Belle that dagger" points to the dagger, "is a fake. I have the real dagger."

"So, this whole time, I have been carrying around a fake dagger?" looking confused.

"Yes."

"Why?" she breaths out, shocked and hurt that he would continue to lie, after all she believed in him and hoped he would believe in himself.

"Because I needed it."

"For what?"

He sits back down in his chair, clinching his hands in a fist, nervous about explaining his reasons for keeping and using the dagger. He knows its something he must do to be a better person to Belle, even though he chancing and risking losing her but at least he could come out of this, what ever the result may be, feeling like he has hope for himself to begin a huge change in his life. It would be the beginning of a new path he would take. Taking that first step was hard for him but he felt this is the perfect opportunity to talk with her about everything he is going through. Yes it has been sitting too long, lingering in the back of his mind, he knew he should have told her sooner, but better late than never, he thought to himself. He feared taking that first step of truly opening  up to her, afraid of losing her, which might happen, but he is ready to face what ever consequences may come. Yes she will be hurt after hearing what he has to say, it won't be easy, this will not be easy for him as well. This is one obstacle that will truly test their love.

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
